The Necklace

Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.

Mr. Whatshisface owns a jewellery store downtown. His prized possession is his 10-carat diamond necklace that he so lovingly cares for. Everyone downtown knows that he keeps a glass replica in the small case on his counter so people can view this exquisite piece of jewellery. On December 24, 9 PM Eastern Standard Time, two tall, skinny men wearing black ski masks barged their way into the shop and stole the code to the safe. Mr. Whatshisface was not at the shop and the robbers decided to take his prized necklace. For fake blackmail, they took the one on the counter too. In case they had to give him back one, they would give him the fake one. The robbers tiptoed across the marble floor and out of nowhere, a loud siren went off. They slipped what they thought was the real one in their pocket and dropped the other one as they skittered out the lock-picked door. Mr. Whatshisface came into his shop in a hurry. He picked up the necklace and examined it. Police sirens rang in the distance and soon the cops arrived to examine the scene. "Don't worry," Mr. Whatshisface said as he closed the open safe. "They didn't get away with anything." What did Mr. Whatshisface figure out, and how?

Answer

The robbers took the glass necklace, not the real one. If they dropped the glass one, it would've shattered. But the necklace Mr. Whatshisface found was intact and didn't have a scratch on it, so it must've been made out of diamonds.Hide